“MOVE on na tayo”, says my friend, echoing the words of a triumphant daughter of a dictator who ruled with impunity for 20 years and was ousted but is finally getting to be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
I manage to breathe and think it’s not that easy.
Because if Imee Marcos and other people think solutions can be found in a catchphrase, anyare?
What I mean is, if you think those who have suffered in the dark years of Martial Law, who lost their freedoms, family, limbs are not moving on and that’s holding the nation back. I ask you, has the nation moved forward at all?
And to borrow that scene from Doctor Strange, the Ancient One will tell you, you’ve been looking at the world through a keyhole.
And she’ll take you to a fast timeline of the past thirty years, and see where we have gone.
We start thirty years ago, we said “sobra na, palitan na” and felt proud we are a shining example of democracy and peaceful “people power” all throughout the world, triumphant because we put Makoy out of our misery.
But, Cory blew it. Blew it away like Mendiola. Blew it away by honoring the questionable loans incurred by Marcos. And surprise, Cory allowed the Marcos family to return and not prosecute them fully, presumably because the Cojuangco blood is thicker than our tears, and they came back to government.
Ramos tried to move us to Philippines 2000 but the hanging of Flor Contemplation showed that was nothing. Erap said “walang kumpare-kumpare” but got hurting money. Gloria fixed the election but not the economy of high prices and joblessness and did a Marcos with activist killings. And we got Noynoy trying to make us nostalgic while walking Daang Matuwad that was stuck by MRT traffic.
And along the way, Bongbong Marcos became governor, then senator, and almost became vice president. Imee became Congresswoman and Governor.
It seems our country is moving, not forward, but pa-urong. That’s what is happening here. Like that lyrics in a song by Yano said: “Sikat ka noon sa TV, kasi sumama ka noon sa rally… pero ngayon nag-iisa, naglalakad sa may Edsa.”
And if you ask what went wrong? The last election made us discover how our election and economy has been usurped by this group called the oligarchs, the monopoly of landowners and tycoons whom Aquino and other presidents served. And in an article in Bulaltat, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan chair Carol Araullo said this: “The oligarchy does not care about truth-telling. The oligarchy does not care about justice.”
I may add that politicians never want the truth out. Whether that is a Marcos, or an Aquino, or adds the name of the politician you feel has made our country suck.
So if Imee says let’s move on, let’s forgive. Well, if she and every Marcos family can meet the 70,000 or so victims of his father’s regime, and ask each one of them for forgiveness, then I would say it’s a mind-bending miracle.
How I wish that is the reality we have than this one we’re having now. If we want that kind of change where there is justice and healing. Maybe, it’s time for us to truly, move forward for the right purpose together.
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